Burn All Empires, Cunninghams Head to Rumble in the West Finals

With all talk heading into the Rumble in the West semifinals focused on early favorites S.I.M.P. and Timed Out, it was a couple of underdogs who battled their way to victory, as Burn All Empires and The Cunninghams fought feverishly to advance to the Poznan Game Arena finals in Poland and a shot at $50,000 in prize money.

“In the past, during big games that we’ve lost, it was often just as much due to beating ourselves as anything,” says Empires’ team captain Derek Gee. “This time we made sure not to overthink things or bend to the competition. We needed to just stay calm, cool, and collected. We needed to play our game and hit our shots. ”

BAE defeated Timed Out in the semifinals (3-1), and their strategy consisted of some of the boldest, most cutthroat play attempted throughout the tournament.

“We took a very aggressive starting position on the Himmelsdorf match,” says Gee, “and we basically won it within the first minute. That match was a great example of how we want to be successful … make the first push and don’t let them catch a breath.”

On the flip side of the bracket, while BAE was handling their business against Timed Out, it was The Cunninghams pulling off another major upset by defeating tournament favorite S.I.M.P. (3-1) before moving on to take down Burn All Empires in the NA Final (3-1).

RU251 “... our plan was to maximize our use of the RU251, and take advantage of the reduced crew skills to be more aggressive.”

“To be honest, we were pretty loose,” says Cunninghams’ team captain Adam Martin. “We knew the meta was going to be completely underdeveloped, so our plan was to maximize our use of the RU251, and take advantage of the reduced crew skills to be more aggressive.”  

But now that the North American bracket is finalized, BAE and The Cunninghams have even tougher matches in their immediate future, as they face off against Ukrainian powerhouse SchoolBus, and Virtus.Pro, one of Russia’s top teams.

“We will definitely be coming in as the underdogs in our matches,” admits Gee,“ however, it is in that position when we are the most dangerous. We have a great capacity to rise to the occasion.

“We’ve never played an EU team in a real competition and we are itching for the chance to show what we can do.”

Martin agrees that it’s going to be tough for either North American team to win it all when the teams collide October 25.

“We don’t expect to beat them,” he says, “especially because we have to play Virtus.Pro, but we’ll see.”

As for a possible rematch between North American teams Burn All Empires and The Cunninghams?

Says Gee: “The Cunninghams have gotten the better of us the last few times we’ve played, so if we do get to play them in Poland, we will be looking for a little revenge.”

Martin has other ideas.

“Easy win,” he laughs. “But I expect it to happen in the 3 versus 4 match, and not the 1 versus 2.”

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

S.I.M.P. Vs. The Cunninghams
Cliff: S.I.M.P.
Prokhorovka: Cunninghams
Ensk: Cunninghams
Steppes: Draw
Mines: Cunninghams

Winner: The Cunninghams (3-1)

Timed Out Vs. Burn All Empires
Prokhorovka: Burn All Empires
Mines: Burn All Empires
Cliff: Timed Out
Steppes: Draw
Himmelsdorf: Burn All Empires

Winner: Burn All Empires (3-1)

Burn All Empires Vs. The Cunninghams
Prokhorovka: The Cunninghams
Ensk: The Cunninghams
Mines: Burn All Empires
Himmelsdorf: The Cunninghams

Winner: The Cunninghams (3-1)

Check out the video below for all the exciting Rumble in the West action: